Monday, August 28, 2006

You talk about rain ... you talk about wind ... August 2006 had both in spades, at least on Long Island. But ... there were those idyllic August days when the breezes were light, the grass was freshly mown and flying was happening all around. The best news was when Bob and Ace got their medicals back and Bill T's Vagabond was finally signed off for flight with the mighty C-85 in the nose. Talk about a rocket! He pushes up the power and it's off to the races, climbing like a scalded ape. Those short wing Pipers are fun when they have the juice. Bill hasn't stopped smiling.

I'm a little ahead of myself...

The month actually started at the tail end of July on a trip to Brazil in the Big G ... Mike and I made a side trip to San Jose dos Campos where they build the Embraer jets and got a tour of the factory ... this is a picture of a new Legacy corporate jet, which is based on the EMB-135 airframe. We came away with a handful of little jet pins which we parlayed into points with the girls in the office back home and an idea of things to come ... the Embraer people build a nice airplane and apparently a pretty durable one since they're in service as commuter (and larger) airliners all over the world.

There were a bunch of little trips all through August, but the Big Day was the 26th: the day of the Antique Airplane Club of Greater New York Fly-In, pig roast, camping trip and flying/lying fest. The weather stunk! Friday had a tornado touchdown on Long Island (fortunately Bayport Aerodrome is disguised as a long, straight and smooth stretch of grass and the tornado gods don't even notice it - they look for paved runways where numerous all-aluminum Cessnas, Pipers and such are tied down outside so as to make a bigger splash on the evening news). The picture is of a few of the airplanes that turned out ... we actually sold enough wristbands (all you can eat pig and potato salad and slaw; all you can drink belly washers of all sorts) to pay for the pig and fixins so I guess it turned out pretty well. Yours truly and noted bomb-aimer Harry captured the glory for coming closest to the flour-bomb target. Bill T. won the spot landing contest in his hotrod Vagabond. There were some really nice airplanes there - some from as far away as Connecticut! Next year maybe the weather will cooperate.

The first oil change is coming up on the Cub's engine and I'm looking forward to some good news when we crack the filter open ... Oil temps are coming down a little and so far it looks like we have a good engine. I called my engine man - Lee - and he said it sounded like everything is just as it should be.